THIRTY YEARS ON, WILKO REMEMBERS LAST TIME LEEDS STROLLED TO GLORY
LEEDS’ promotion and title-winning success could hardly be more different from when they last went up as champions in 1990.
United sealed promotion on Friday night and the title on Saturday without kicking a ball after beating Barnsley on Thursday behind closed doors at Elland Road.
Thirty years ago, thousands of Leeds fans invaded Bournemouth for the final match of the season to see Howard Wilkinson’s side (Vinnie Jones with Chris Fairclough, top) win 1-0 and return to the top flight from the Second Division – as it was then called – after an eight-year absence.
That Saturday in May 1990 is part of Leeds folklore (Chris Kamara, above), and Wilkinson recalls dabbling in mind games with striker Carl Shutt, when Bobby Davison was injured on the eve of the must-win clash.
“We went down to Bournemouth on the Thursday and, as a surprise, I took them out for a meal,” he said.
“Then, on Friday morning, Bobby gets an injury. I said to him and the physio, ‘I’ve got my reasons so don’t tell anybody about this’.
“I said to
Bob, ‘You will start the game.
You might come off after a minute, but you will start the game’.
“The reason for that was the lad I was going to bring in, a lad called Carl Shutt, was not that
Second Division trophy, below) also ignored police advice to leave early for the game at Dean Court because the hordes of Leeds fans had blocked the road to the stadium.
Wilkinson and his players walked the final few hundred yards when their coach became stuck in the crowd and says this distracted his players from what was at stake.
“The coppers told us we had to leave threequarters of an hour before I wanted to leave, so that was another decision I had to make,” he added.
“I said we would leave at the same time and the officer said he could not be held responsible for us being there late because the road was crammed with Leeds fans.
“I said that was all right and if we have to walk, we have to walk.
“We get there and the crowd is a bit packed, so I tell the players, ‘Off we get, we’ll walk now’. The crowd parted and they were cheering us and everything else. “So when we got in the dressing room, what had just happened with the walk had taken everyone’s mind off it all.
“If you like, we had two pieces of bad luck or ill fortune, but we turned them around and made them work for us.
“It’s great to see Leeds back after all these years and they will certainly add to the Premier League.”